Louisville tackles parking problems in Old Town

Louisville City Council members Tuesday night unanimously endorsed a new parking plan they hope will assuage some of the town's ongoing parking woes.

But council members emphasized they would like to see more detail on certain elements of the strategy, especially a proposed parking permit program for residents of Old Town Louisville, before they are totally on board.

The plan, outlined by Planning and Building Safety Director Troy Russ, over the course of the next three years would seek to add 221 full-time and 109 part-time, evening parking spaces to downtown Louisville, improve the police department's capacity to enforce parking rules and, eventually, install a customized parking permit program for Old Town, among other steps.

Councilwoman Susan Loo expressed some reservation about the permit program, something Russ said the city would pay a consultant $50,000 to help draft and could be implemented in 2016.

"It's quite possible — I've lived in this community a long time — when you get the details of the residential parking program, some of the public is going to come unglued and say, 'Where in the world did you get that idea? I don't like it. I don't want it," Loo said. "What I'm hearing right now is we've already decided to do that if we adopt this plan."

Russ reassured her that was not the case.

"This is a framework. It's not a detailed plan," he said. "The specifics will be vetted and developed in a very public way."

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The parking plan was drafted with the help of Old Town residents and downtown business owners who served on a parking action committee that began meeting this spring.

One of members of that committee, Pine Street resident Janis Vogelsberg, spoke out in favor of creating the permit program, something she said she petitioned her Old Town neighbors about and knows many support.

"I really want Louisville to be very proactive going forward now," she said. "I really do push for the resident permit plan."

Russ suggested the permit program would provide residents in the heavily affected parts of Old Town with stickers for up to two cars, with the option to buy additional passes, but the details of the plan are still in the planning phases.

When it comes to acquiring needed parking, among the options outlined for 2014-2015 in the new plan included leasing an existing private parking facility in the evening, providing 41 spaces, and restriping South Street, an effort that can add seven spaces. The plan also calls for negotiations with the BNSF Railroad on a parking agreement for spaces north and south of Pine Street that could eventually lead to construction of a 68-space parking area.

In the longer term, the plan projects the addition of 80 on-street parking spaces when the city develops its "South Street Gateway" area, though there were some questions as to whether the city wanted parking to be a dominant feature of its entranceways.

"I think one of the things that we should do is do the thing that we can do now, this year," he said. "For one thing, we can restripe parking spaces on streets enumerated in this presentation, and I think we should do that with no delay."

Louisville Police Chief David Hayes said he will be requesting the city authorize hiring an additional officer next year, one who will be tasked with code and parking enforcement.

Louisville police issued more than 150 parking summonses on the nine nights of the Street Faire this year.

All told, Russ said the plan could cost about $3.4 million in already budgeted costs and between $1.4 and $1.8 million in non budgeted costs.

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